Twenty-three persons suspected to be cultists have been arrested in different parts of Lagos, Police Chief Imohimi Edgal said yesterday.
He was briefing reporters on his command’s activities in the last one month.
Thirty live cartridges, he said, were recovered from the suspects.
Two persons – Vincent Ameh, 19, and Julius Matthew, 27, were arrested for alleged possession of firearms and membership of an unlawful society during the period.
A driver was held for raping a 78-year-old woman at Adeniyi Jones Avenue in Ikeja, and a 37-year-old man was nabbed for attempting to kidnap a four-year-old boy at Okokomaiko.
Edgal said Ameh and Matthew were arrested on December 20 last year, following a tip-off.
He said: “Based on the information, operatives of the command and those of the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS) based at Igando mobilised to the scene and arrested the suspects.
“Exhibits recovered from them include one locally-made cut-to size gun, three live cartridges, a T-Shirt with an inscription Vikings Nons Men and a cutlass.”
Edgal said the driver, 41, raped the septuagenarian, who asked him for direction to where she was going in Ketu.
“Unknown to the woman, the driver, who had ulterior motive, drove her to Adeniyi Jones in Ikeja where he forcefully had sex with her despite her old age.
“A passer-by, who heard the woman’s shouts for help, called the police and pointed them to the direction of the screams and he was caught in the act. “The woman was bleeding when she was rescued from the scene,” he said.
The kidnap suspect, he said, was arrested on January 6 following report that he was seen holding the boy in a suspicious manner around Otun market Square in Okokomaiko.
A fake soldier, he added, was arrested for unlawful possession of firearms on January 6.
“On January 6, about 1800hrs, operatives of the command attached to the anti-cultism unit, while on routine patrol, intercepted a Toyota Camry saloon car with four occupants: Ismaila Ebenezer, male, 38, (fake soldier); Hillary Nwoha, male, 40; Iwuagwu Joseph, male, 33; and Iwuanyan Ifeanyi, male, 60.
He said on searching their vehicle, a pump action rifle was recovered, adding: “Investigation has shown that the suspects belong to a kidnapping gang terrorising Ikorodu axis.”
He added that six suspected traffic robbers were arrested on January 2 in Ajegunle area of Alakuko, Lagos.
The suspects are Opeyemi Suraju, male, 22; Abdullahi Hammed, male, 18; Abiodun Adegoke, male, 20; Samuel Innocent, male, 25; Basit Makinde, male, 20; and Motunrayo Akeem, male, 23.
Edgal said items recovered from them included cutlasses and daggers.
